A Broken World
by Fett-spy
Summary: AU-The world has been besieged by an unknown virus, turning it into a haven for things only found in nightmares. Naruto, with his ex-military friends and their families, attempt to survive the brutal hellhole the earth has now become. But when the virus begins to affect everyone, could it actually give them a fighting chance against the overwhelming odds of the infected?
1. Apocalypse Now

**Hey everyone, this is my second fanfic, and another AU. I'm a huge zombie fan, and I found that there wasn't that many zombie-based stories within the naruto universe, so I figured i'd make one :D! This is just another idea that had been kinda giving me an itch, so I figured i'd write it and see where it went!**

**Story's rated T for the moment, may change to M depending on the violence/gore as well as possible lemons.**

**Also, while it's labeled adventure/horror, it's got a little of almost every category thrown in. Couples, well, you'll see 'em this chapter :D. However, if there's any others you'd like to see, don't be afraid to tell me!**

**As always, feedback of any form is greatly appreciated, so reviews good, bad, and ugly are welcome! Also, since this story is going to be substantially larger than my other story, fan-based ideas and input is valued even more, so don't be afraid to tell me what you want to see or happen!**

**Anyways, enough of the intro. Enter: A Broken World**

Two children, one with spiky navy-blue hair, the other with long, platinum blonde hair held in two pigtails, crept into the main bedroom of their house as quietly as they could. Grinning, they both nodded to one another and pounced on the bed.

"What the-!" Naruto grunted as his 9 year old daughter Akari landed on his chest, smiling brightly. He drowsily grabbed her and pulled her into a huge hug. She giggled as his stubble scratched her pale face.

"Good morning daddy!" she chirped brightly.

"G'morning Akari. Why are we up so early? It's Saturday" He mumbled drowsily in protest. On the opposing side, Hinata had been hit by a similar weight. She squealed as her son began tickling her madly, waking her up.

"Shinji! S-stop! I'm awake! I'm awake!" she giggled. He laughed as he jumped into the bed with her, snuggling close.

"Come on mom! Wake up! It's Saturday!" he barked. She winced as he assaulted her awaking ears with a raucous voice not unlike his father's. She put a pillow over his face as she tried to descend deeper under the covers. Shinji frowned as he shoved the pillow off. He rolled over and began poking his hulking frame of a father with his small hands.

"Wake up Pops! Come on your not that old are you?!" he yelled, making Naruto and Akari wince. Naruto grabbed his son and pulled him close with Akari.

"Great idea guys, why don't we just go back to sleep?" he grumbled as he closed his eyes.

"NOOOOO!" the both screeched in unision. Naruto flashed an ocean blue open in reluctant defeat. Grumbling, he sat up with them in his lap.

"Alright you demons, go ahead into the kitchen. Turn on some cartoons or somethin', me and your mom'll be out in a sec" he said, yawning tiredly.

"Pancakes, waffles, and ramen?" they asked, looking at him with two sets of deep violet eyes. He gave a rumbling chuckle and set them down.

"Pancakes, waffles, and ramen it is" he smiled happily. The two 10 year olds that stood before him couldn't have made him happier.

"Now get! we'll be out soon!" he barked. They eagerly ran into the living room, various yells of 'breakfast!' following them. Naruto stretched before walking back over to the bed. He pulled the covers down to see his gorgeous wife, half dozing at the bottom of the bed. He gently put her in his arms and laid against the headboard of the bed.

"Hime, wake up baby." he spoke softly, tucking a few strands of midnight lavender hair out of her face. Her opal eyes fluttered open, blinking a few times to get used to the light. She smiled up at her rugged looking husband, before bringing his head down into a kiss. He broke the kiss and smiled at her.

"Come on baby, the kids are waiting" he said. She yawned and sat up, only to let out an 'Eep!' of surprise when she was picked up by Naruto. He smiled down her as they walked in to see their two kids happily watching Saturday morning cartoons.

"You guys wanna help make breakfast?" Hinata asked smiling as Naruto set her down. Shinji roared as he hopped on his father's tree trunk leg and grinned up at him, while Akari giggled in delight as she hopped into her mother's arms. With a deep chuckle, Naruto hefted Shinji onto his hip as they walked into the kitchen with Hinata and Akari.

"Pancakeswafflesandramen, pancakeswafflesandramen!" the two chanted happily. Naruto grabbed a box of pancake mix, along with a few bowls, and began making the batter while Hinata and Akari made eggs and sausage for the ramen.

"Hey love, how much longer till the ramen's re-damnit Shinji I told you to stop trying to eat the batter!" Naruto sighed exasperatedly as he wiped off batter from around the giggling boy's mouth, his wife and daughter trying to stifle giggles behind him. "Shinji go put the waffles in the toaster, okay?" he chuckled.

"Waffles!" Shinji yelled as he ran to the freezer.

"To answer your question, we just have to make the actual ramen, the season it, so about 10 more minutes" Hinata answered.

"Akari go help your brother load the waffles, i'ma help mommy" Naruto said as he finished the first set of pancakes. He walked beside Hinata and began to boil the pasta. Akari nodded with a smile and went and started jamming waffles in the toaster with her brother.

"They may be nine, but they're still little kids" Hinata giggled to her husband, who let out a rumble of a laugh.

"Hey, at least they're mature when it counts. I've never seen a 10 year old with a black belt in Shotokan, and i've never seen a 10 year old nearly beat Shika in chess. he said, chuckling. He wrapped an arm around her waist as they watched they're kids bicker over which way the waffles needed to go in the toaster. He shook his head with a foxy grin as he strained the noodles.

"Oh damn" he muttered as he flashed over to check the numerous pans of pancakes. He quickly flipped the second batch onto a few plates as he began cooking more.

"Are you sure that isn't too many pancakes" Hinata asked as she raised an eyebrow. Naruto raised an eyebrow of his own with a smirk.

"Woman have you NOT seen how this family eats?" he asked incredulously. She giggled as she finished making the homemade breakfast ramen.

"True, we do eat a lot. I still don't get how you, much less our 9 year old KIDS can eat ramen for breakfast" She stuck her tongue out to emphasize her point. He grinned back at her.

"How can you NOT eat ramen for breakfast?" he asked. She shook her head as she put the pancakes that had finished on plates and set them on the table. Naruto walked over to see a towering pile of waffles made by the kids. He chuckled as he picked both of his kids up.

"Why'd you guys make so many?" he asked as he grabbed the plate with what had to be well over 20 waffles on it.

Akari and Shinj both giggled.

"Cuz we're hungry!" they answered in unison. Naruto smiled at both of them. At first glance no one could tell they were twins, lest they didn't look like it. Whenever it came to behavior, they almost seemed to act as one. He let them go as they reached the table, and took a seat next to his beautiful wife. The family ate together happily. Naruto took Hinata's hand in his own and smiled at her. She smiled in return and both looked at their entire world that had taken shape of the smiling twins before them.

*FLASHBACK*

"Mr. and Mrs. Uzumaki?" The doctor called as he entered the room, an estranged look on his face. Naruto perked up as he held a tiny Shinji in his arms, Hinata's head dragged up from the small bundle that was Akari.

"I have some...strange news" He spoke, looking at his clipboard. The young parents' stomachs dropped, and they looked at one another in fear. The doctor immediately picked up on in and spoke quickly.

"Don't worry, the children are fine, one perfectly healthy boy and one perfectly healthy girl." He smiled. Both parents visibly relaxed, and looked at him with a small smile. Seeing as they were doing better, he continued.

"It seems they're fraternal twins, like we had thought, but they have each individually inherited a mix of different dominant traits from each of you. For instance, Akari will have a more pale blonde than you're bright blonde Mr. Uzumaki, while Shinji appears to have inherited his mother's hair, although a tint lighter." he said as he observed his clipboard again. Both parents looked at each other and smiled.

"It's not a bad thing right? I mean, it's not dangerous is it?" Naruto asked. The doctor shook his head.

"As I said, they're perfectly healthy, I just figured I should let the two of you know." He turned his head as he left "One more thing, it seems they'll have violet colored eyes" he said with a chuckle. The young couple looked at eachother with blank faces, then laughed.

*END FLASHBACK*

It's a shame good things don't last. As if on cue, Naruto's phone rang. With a groan, he stood up and lumbered to his bedroom, only to catch a blur of light blonde hair streak past him and grab the phone.

"Helloooo?" she chirped. Naruto frowned as he quickened his pace. "Okie doke Uncle Sasu!" Akari grinned as she handed Naruto his phone. "It's uncle Sasuke!" she whispered. He chuckled and nodded as she ran back in the other room to continue breakfast.

"Yo!" Naruto answered. He got a strange feeling in his stomach as he heard his best friend and squadmate, Sasuke Uchiha, giving quick orders to his own family.

"Naruto?" his dark voice called.

"Yeah, what is it dude?" His nerves became more and more on end as he realized Sasuke hadn't greeted him with the normal 'Oi dobe' he always used.

"Listen, cause I can only say it once. Turn on the news if you don't believe me, but there's some sort of nerve agent or virus that's reached Tokyo. It's been spreading and it's reached South Konoha. Pack your bags, everything you can, any preservable food, grab all the weapons and ammo in your house okay? Me, Sakura, Miko, and Yushin are on our ways to pick you up. We're bringing the avalance with it's bedguard, so we should have enough room. You've gotta be ready in 15 minutes, cause we're leaving now."

He heard Sasuke take a painful pause. His heart was thumping so loudly in his chest, he swore Sasuke could hear him on the other line.

"I can spare 3 minutes to help you grab anything else you might need, but if you're not ready by then...I've gotta leave you. No time for questions, just do what I said. See ya soon." With that, he hung up. Naruto took a second to let his mind process all he'd heard. Nerve agent? Virus?

"Hinata!" He yelled as he dragged out suitcases. and began throwing clothes in them.

"What is it Naruto-kun?" She asked with a worried look on her face. He looked at her, still in a tanktop and flanel pajama pants.

"Listen, something bad hapend in South Konoha and it's headed this way," She immediately went for the phone and t.v remote to call Sakura, but he held her firm.

"W-what do you mean?" she asked, her anxiety mounting. He took a deep breath.

"Some sort of virus or biological agent, i don't know. I was just on the phone with Sasuke, they're on their way hear to pick us up. We've got around 12 minutes now, so you need to go pack everything you can that belongs to the kids, and any and all perishable foods, bottled water, that sort of thing, okay?" The dead calm in his voice shocked her, for she had never heard it before.

"N-naruto what're you tal-"

"Listen Hinata! You have to do this!" Naruto continued to pack all of their things as he spoke. "Sasuke wouldn't call me if this weren't serious, he said he'd explain anything else when we're with him, now go!" he barked.

She took on a more determined expression and nodded before running into the kitchen. Naruto quickly took of his dog tags, and unlocked his weapons cabinet with the key on his necklace. Grabbing a few duffel bags, he began haphazardly filling each of them with as much of his arsenal as he could. He checked his watch. 6 minutes. Deciding he would use the 3 minutes Sasuke gave him, he put on a black tanktop, a pair of army cargo pants, his boots, and a combat vest. He figured it would be enough for the time being, and went in to check on Hinata and his kids.

"Hina how're we doing?" He asked as he checked what she had packed so far.

"I managed to get the kids cleared away, the food is only about halfway done though" she said quickly, dumping a cabinet's worth of ramen into a trashbag. He silently cursed as he checked and saw they had 2 minutes left.

"It'll have to-" he paused when he heard the horn out in front. Rushing out the front door, he nearly barreled over Sasuke who was just about to knock. He quickly pulled him inside and gave him a sit-rep.

"I know the whole Q&A can wait. My guns are about 3/4 packed, kids are clear, Me and Hinata's stuff is clear, the kids are good to go, but we've only got about half the food packed." He spoke as he dragged Sasuke back to the weapons cabinet. "Finish packing everything you can. More duffel bags and Combat packs up top, anything weaponized is in the cabinet." he said quickly, already leaving the room to help Hinata. Sasuke gave a strained 'Hn' as Naruto left the room.

"How're we doing Hinata?" he called as he began dumping contents from cabinets and drawers into bags.

"That should really be all" she breathed frantically.

"Grab the kids and their things, get to the truck, Sakura should be waiting with their kids. Sasuke and I have the rest." He had gathered their children's things and given to his wife as he turned to go back to their room. Hinata quickly took the kid's bags and ushered them outside.

"Where are we going?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah, we wanna finish cartoons!" Akari whined.

"Not now, come on guys, we're going with uncle Sasuke and aunt Sakura!" Hinata forced a smile to quell the hurricane of emotions inside of her. Her words seemed to placate the kids, for the time being anyway, and they moved to the truck and got inside.

"Just toss their stuff in the back! Naruto and Sasuke-kun'll sort it out when they get back" Sakura said quickly. Hinata quickly obliged, before taking the passenger seat with Sakura.

"Hey guys!" Both pairs of kids greeted each other warmly. Even if there was a slight age difference between the twins and Sasuke and Sakura's child Mei, who was 8, while Yushin was 10 as well, they still were practically family.

Naruto and Sasuke had finished right on their deadline, managing to pack up all of Naruto's weapons, as well as an ample supply of him and his wife's clothes. Naruto paused, then looked back at their room.

"One more thing I gotta grab!" he called as he rushed into the room he and his wife shared.

"Hurry the fuck up! We gotta move!" Sasuke growled as he hefted a few of the weapon bags and began walking. Naruto grabbed the other weapon bags and the suitcases he had packed belonging to him and Hinata and followed on Sasuke's heels.

"Damn dobe, you've got almost more armament than me" he said with a smirk. Naruto flashed a grin.

"I was just about to go shooting tomorrow too, lucky this thing came when it did" He grunted.

"We're in the back of the truck dobe, hop in." he said as he climbed into the expanded bed of Sasuke's custom truck.

He'd always said it was only second to his family. It ended up looking like a slightly narrowed humvee without the full roof. He'd expanded the bed to hold whatever he could think of, and right now, even with two families worth of supplies, it could still hold more if it needed. On top of this, he had 3 spare compartments put into it: One in the bed, and one in each wheel well. The final extension he had added, had been the retractable bedguard. Made of titanium, it extended out of the sides of the bed, and was conjoined by carious clasps over the top of the bed, making a useful, bulletproof canopy. With the tailgate pulled up, it almost looked like a troop transport truck. (Think of those trucks with the canvas canopy over the top.) The only thing mroe impressive than the truck, as the fact that Sasuke had done it all himself. It surprised everyone but Naruto, who had known of Sasuke's reputation as a mechanic back in the marines.

"So you mind telling me what the fuck is going on?" Naruto asked as he began stowing gear in the various compartments. Sasuke sighed as he took a seat in the bed.

"I just...got a feeling you know? I turned on the t.v this morning, and there was some talk about a riot in Konoha...but it wasn't right Naruto. There were people getting..." Sasuke gulped as he tried to fight the fact that what he had seen was real. "People were getting eaten man. They had a chopper covering the whole damn thing. I mean, I knew something was strange when the cops started opening fire into the crowd, instead of just trying to round them off or giving warning shots. It's just...when they just started eating those people..."

he trailed off again, a scared look in his eyes. He looked up at Naruto for the last part.

"Another disturbing thing...when those cops started shooting, I saw them tear those people apart. The guys fell, but they'd just get back up and keep going. Some of them looked like they were killed, but the damage that was inflicted on them was astronomical to say the least..."

He trailed off. Naruto stared at him in disbelief. People who were eating other people? Not only that, but the people were apparently invincible. Naruto shook his head.

"There's a way to beat these things, but we'll figure that out later. In the meantime, where are we headed?" Naruto asked sternly. Sasuke shook himself out of his stupor.

"Not sure yet, one thing's for sure, we gotta get as far away from South Konoha as we can, and we oughta call everyone else." Naruto nodded and whipped out his cell phone, Sasuke followed suit.

Naruto called Kiba Inuzuka, one of the canine bomb-sniffer units, and the explosives expert in their squad. "Oi Ace! I've been trying to fuckin' reach you! You see that riot in South Konoha?! People are getting eaten!" He yelled over the phone, making Naruto wince.

"Kiba shut up! I know! Listen, where are you?" Naruto asked. He heard Kiba yelling something to his wife, before he brought the phone back up to his ear.

"At my house, we figured we would just hunker down here and wait it out, where are you?" He asked in return.

"I'm with Sasuke, it's the two of us and our families. We're gonna come and get you okay?" Naruto spoke, noticing something strange on the road up ahead.

"No way man! We gotta stay where we are, else whatever the fuck is out there's gonna snatch us while we're running!" He barked. Naruto's eye's widened as he realized what was in front of them.

"Kiba, keep Tayuya and izumi stay safe alright? I've just gotta check on something" Naruto ignored Kiba's protests as he set the phone down and grabbed an M-4 carbine out of one of the bags and began loading a cartridge.

* * *

Sasuke tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Neji to answer. Exhaling in relief at the calm, yet cold voice that picked up on the other end.

"Sasuke? Hey, what is it?" he asked, a slight strain to his normally collected voice.

"Neji, are you TenTen and Hana okay?"

"Yes, we're fine. I assume you're calling about the riot in the lower part of Konoha?" his voice emitting more traces of fear. Sasuke clenched his teeth.

"Yeah, I've got my family, along with Naruto's. We're headed as far away form there as we can, and we're gonna pick you up after we get Kiba. Call Choji and Shika and tell them to meet you at your house unless they wanna be left behind okay? Holding up is not an option, we've got- Neji you know what to do, i'll call you soon." Sasuke said curtly as he saw Naruto loading a rifle.

"Dobe what the fuck are you do-" His eyes widened as he saw what was in front of the truck. He rapped on the glass, causing Sakura to stop.

"Get a gun Sasuke" He muttered as he shouldered his rifle, using the cab of the truck as a rest

In the middle of the street were 4 individuals in bloodied tatters of clothes. They shambled around slowly, seeming to wander aimlessly. That is, until they spotted the rumbling truck and it's inhabitants. With a bloodcurdling moan, they began shambling towards the truck at a moderate jog.

"DON'T MOVE" Naruto roared, his deep voice like an earthquake in a silent forest. The group wasn't phased in the slightest, and continued their advance.

"Damnit teme, you loaded?!" Naruto yelped as he saw the...things, or whatever they were, charge their truck. Sasuke shouldered an M14 and rested it on the cab, imitating Naruto.

"Take another step and we'll shoot!" Sasuke yelled. Still, they received no response from the shambling crazies.

"12 meters and closing" Sasuke stated calmly.

"Cut 'em down at 8" Naruto muttered. Sasuke nodded as he pulled the bolt on his weapon.

* * *

Sakura and Hinata had talked about what little they really knew about everything that was happening. They were in the middle of discussing what they're next move should be when Sakura heard knocking on the cab glass. Slamming the brakes, she stopped around 40 feet in front of a few people covered in blood.

"W-what's wrong with those people" Hinata whispered. Sakura gripped the steering wheel like a lifeline. Both mothers knew something was really wrong with whoever, or whatever, the group in front of them. Sakura quickly pushed the gear in reverse, but stopped when she felt Hinata hold her arm back.

"Hinata what are you doing?! We've gotta get outta here!" she shrieked.

"Huh? Why do we have to leave?" the twins asked simultaneously. Mei perked up and looked at the stragglers in front of them.

"Why are they all dressed up?" she squeaked. "It's not halloween yet is it mama?" she asked. Yushin peaked out from the seats and looked. His face scrunched in puzzlement.

"Who are those guys aunt Hina?" he asked as he tugged on her arm. Hinata turned quickly and climbed in the back with them.

"Don't worry about it, I think they may just be lost sweetheart. Here why don't I teach you guys how to play chopsticks?" she forced a smile, trying to cover the worry that was threatening to take her over. Mei giggled happily as Yushin, Akari, and Shinji eyed the pale beauty carefully, but decided to play anyway.

"Naruto and Sasuke-kun will take care of it Sakura, trust them. Sakura squeezed the steering wheel with a white knuckle grip as they begin moving towards the truck, but she nodded with gritted teeth.

* * *

Back in the bed of the truck, Naruto breathed deeply to steady his nerves as the group closed distance. Sasuke gripped his rifle tighter as they reached 10, clenching his teeth.

"Let it fly" Naruto whispered as he fired into the group of crazies. He caught the front straggler in the chest with 3 rounds, and in the hip and thigh with 4 more. Sasuke shot down the middle and left-back ones, clipping one's knee while hitting him in the gut, while he caught one in the throat and arm. Naruto and Sasuke held their aim as the group crumbled to the ground under the barrage of gunfire. Naruto sucked in a sharp breath as Sasuke gasped. The group stumbled to their feet, albeit barely, but still advanced. Naruto's assailants sported a collapsed lung, broken hip and what had to have been a shattered femur, judging by how the bones in his thigh jutted out the back and side of his leg. Sasuke's targets sustained a shattered knee, and had it's intestines hanging out, while the other had blood flowing freely from it's torn throat, along with an arm that dangled uselessly by it's side.

"What the fuck are these things?" Sasuke asked fearfully, gripping his rifle even more tightly.

"Let's see you move after this you bastard" The blonde muttered. He breathed slowly as he sent a shot right through the frontmost's forehead. Both of them stared as it ceased to move. Looking at one another, they grinned.

"Head it is" Sasuke muttered as he took aim and fired. The three remaining crazies dropped in less that a second. Both light out a sigh of relief as they dispatched their attackers. Sasuke rapped on the glass once more, signalling Sakura to move. The pinkette wasted no time in slamming the gas, nearly throwing Naruto and the raven haired Uchiha on their backs.

* * *

Hinata was straining her smile more and more as she played chopsticks with the children, all of them giggling and laughing as they prodded their eachother's hands, playing chopsticks. They heard the gunshots above the cars, and all of them turned just in time to see the 4 person mob that was in their way get shredded with bullets. Mei and Akari began crying as they saw the people go down. Akari began whimpering and dove into Shinji's arms, who was looking rather pale. He looked over at Yushin, who was sweating bullets as he stared out the window.

Hinata, who was cradling Mei, followed her and her best friend's sons eyes to the macabre sight splayed out before them. The people her husband had just shot down, had simply gotten back up and kept moving.

"I know he's got no function in his right lung, and that one should be convulsing from blood loss" she whispered to herself in disbelief. "Look away guys!" She spoke harshly, causing Shinji to retreat behind one of the seats with his sister, who was still sobbing. Seeing Yushin's horrified look, Shinji grabbed him and pulled him behind the seat with him and Akari. He huddled the three of them together as he looked at his mother with worried eyes. She met her son's eyes, and couldn't help but think he was almost TOO mature for his age sometimes,even if he was an immature hellion at others. Showing that little fear in a situation like this? It was unnatural to say the least. Hinata heard a single gunshot, and watched as one of the scraggly people dropped to the ground, and didn't move. She watched as three more gunshots sounded, sending Akari and Mei into more fits of sobbing. She swore she could Yushin whimpering as Akari and Shinji pulled him closer.

"Cranial Trauma" She breathed, as the headshots put the group down for good.

Shinji peaked out from behind the seat as he saw the strange people hit the ground again. He thought it was kinda strange that they didn't get up the second time. Just as he was about to ask his mom, he heard the glass being tapped. He was startled when aunt Sakura started driving so fast.

* * *

Naruto stared at the grisly scene that slowly faded from view. Shaking his head, he quickly picked up his phone.

"Kiba? You there?" He asked tentatively. He held the phone at arm's length when he heard Kiba screaming something incoherent over the other line. "KIBA! SHUT UP!" He yelled. The line went silent, and the blonde took a deep breath. "Alright now listen, we're on our way to get you alright?"

"Yeah,yeah, roger that" he grunted.

"I advise you to pack up your 4x4 with everything you can carry, gas, food, guns, water, clothes, all that stuff, okay?"

"Yes sir, Lieutenant Uzumaki, sir!" Kiba scoffed. Naruto chuckled.

"See you in a few you dog breathed bastard" he said. Clicking his phone shut, he looked up at Sasuke, who seemed to be observing the surrounding suburbs with a scope he stuck on his rifle.

"Anything outta the ordinary?" The blonde soldier asked. The raven haired Uchiha shook his head.

"Can't be too careful, ya know?" He grunted. Naruto nodded, and took a seat next to the window at the back of the cab. He decided to check on the kids and wives in the few spare minutes they had. He unlatched and folded up the window, eliminating the barrier between the bed and the cab, and peered inside the rather large, 8 person cabin (driver seat, passenger seat, 2 rows of 2 person seats.)

"How's everyone?" he asked. The truck swerved as everyone yelped in surprise. Naruto swore as his head became a pinball in the window frame. Sakura finally managed to get control of the car, but not without plenty of shrieks involving 'WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? WHY'D YOU JUST POP IN HERE?!' and 'DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT DAMNIT!' Naruto cursed as he rubbed his bruised head.

"Babe calm down!" Sasuke barked. She obliged with a grunt. The two husbands looked on grimly at their distraught wives and cowering children. Naruto immediately noticed his kids huddled with Yushim in the corner of one of the seats. Akari looked up from her brother's shoulder, and jumped into her father's arms, still crying softly.

"Shhh, baby it's okay, it's okay, they're gone now, no one's coming, your safe." Naruto gently cooed into her ear, she clung to him like a lifeline as he motioned for Shinji to come and join them. Shinji crawled out of the cab and walked to his father. Naruto knelt down and embraced his trembling son.

"Hey pal, you okay?" he asked softly. Shinji nodded, but his violet eyes were the size of dinner plates.

"W-why'd you and uncle sasu shoot those people" He asked with a shaky voice. Naruto sighed as he pulled his son closer and held him against him.

"They were mean, scary people, they were trying to hurt us, so we had to stop them." Naruto spoke remorsefully. Shinji nodded into his shoulder as he held on.

Sasuke had taken Mei and Yushin into the bed of the truck with Naruto. He silently rocked Mei back and forth, mumbling encouragement that they were safe. He took off his jacket and laid her small sleeping form on it, careful not to disturb her. He crouched down to Yushin's level and grabbed his son's shoulders.

"How're you doing buddy?" he inquired gently. Yushin simply grabbed hold of his father, shaking like a leaf. "Hey pal, it's okay, we're safe now. they can't get us. Look up around us, see the bed covering?" he asked, motioning to the titanium shell that incased the back of the truck, only daylight escaping through the tail end. Yushin nodded, sniffling.

"See how it's linked to the cab? that way even if you move in between the two, you're still safe." he said gently, smiling at his son.

"You promise we're safe?" Yushin asked worriedly. Sasuke pulled his son close to him again and held him.

"I promise buddy, I promise" he whispered in his ear.

* * *

The group reached Kiba's house around 30 minutes after their encounter with the crazies. As they pulled up and honked, they saw a figure flitting behind the window shades before the door opened. revealing Kiba, his wife Tayuya, and their 6 year old daughter Izumi. the little girl broke off into a run when she saw two of her uncles hop out the back of the truck.

"Unca Naru! Unca Sasu!" she squealed as she ran towards them. Naruto smiled as he picked her up. She giggled as he threw her in the air.

"Careful with my kid!" Tayuya yelled. Naruto stuck his tongue out at her, and gave a deep chuckle when Izumi did the same. Izumi just giggled.

"You guys set?" Sasuke asked curtly a few of the surrounding houses. Kiba began looking with Sasuke too. Both of them sensed it. Something wasn't right in the small neighborhood, it was too quiet.

"Yeah, I think I got everything." Kiba said calmly. Sasuke curtly nodded.

"You sure? cause once we split, we're probably not gonna come back." Naruto chimed. Kiba nodded.

"Tayuya! Come on, we're leaving." Kiba called as he walked towards his jeep, filled to the brim with supplies.

"Don't forget your little bundle of joy." Naruto said as he handed Tayuya her daughter. Tayuya smirked as she went to the jeep with Kiba. Naruto and Sasuke climbed into the back of the truck and closed the tailgate as Kiba cranked the ignition on his car. Sakura started the truck again, but paused.

"Sasuke-kun, where are we headed next?" she called.

"We're meeting Neji, Shika, and Cho at Neji's house" He responded. His eyes darted to the trees as he saw the brush rustle.

"Catch that dobe?" he muttered, shouldering the M14 to scope in on the disturbance. Naruto had in fact caught it. His cold blue eyes darted through the woods as he attempted to locate what they'd just seen.

"Yeah teme. Whoever...or whatever it is, has been following us since Kiba's house" he said. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but continued to observe the trees silently.

* * *

After a short 15 minute drive, the two vehicles came to a stop in front of Neji's house. Sasuke pulled out his phone and punched in Neji's number, impatiently tapping his foot as he waited for an answer.

"Uchiha? What is it?" Neji answered. Sasuke let go of the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Damnit Neji! Answer quicker next time, you had me worried sick you bastard!" He barked, but quickly calmed himself. "Well? Where the hell are you guys?" Sasuke growled.

"We didn't wanna draw attention to the house, so we parked them in the back, we're pulling out as we speak." Neji said, hanging up. On cue, Neji, TenTen, and their 10 year old daughter Hana were inside Neji's white and purple streaked skyline, followed by Shikamaru, Temari, and their 10 year old son Shikaru in Shikamaru's mustang, with Choji and Ino, who'd had no kids yet, in Choji's monster, not to mention custom made and tuned, Ford Scout. After a few greetings, everyone formed up a convoy. Bluetooth walkie talkies were handed to all the former G.C squad members for ease of communication, and all of them figured it would only be a short time before cell phone's started losing signals.

"I wish we could go to the Uchiha district" Sasuke sighed. Everyone was silent as they knew of Sasuke's banishment from the prestigious clan. Yushin walked up to his raven haired father and tugged on his hand.

"Why not?" he asked curiously. Sasuke sighed, substantially heavier than the last one. He looked down at his son's emerald eyes. Just like his mother's.

"I'll tell you when we get off the road, just remind me" he said, giving Yushin's hand a squeeze. Yushin nodded, and walked back over to where the twins were sitting.

Naruto followed Yushin in suite, and climbed into the cab with his wife, pulling her close. Hinata had suppressed her worry and curiosity long enough, and all their close friends meeting together in such a manner, with so much stuff, and so many guns...she knew something was terribly wrong, but up until know, she hadn't really felt the fear had begun to creep it's way into her mind.

"Naru what's going on?" she whispered. Her husband pulled her closer.

"I'm...i'm not sure Hina-hime. we'll figure things out when we're off the road. Speaking of, you geniuses got any good ideas?" Naruto asked over their comm link.

"Nothin" Kiba responded.

"I don't know" Neji said.

"You're askin the wrong person" Choji boomed

"I'm still thinkin, but nothing's come to mind yet. What about you, ace?" Shikamaru inquired. Naruto racked his brain with thought as he tried to think of somewhere relatively away, somewhere people didn't know about...That's it!

"We could always go to my parent's estate" he suggested. Everyone murmured in question at Naruto's suggestion. "What? It's about 5 miles out from Konoha, which I know isn't as far as we'd like it, but it'd still be a good temporary place to hunker down, don't you think?" he rumbled.

"Hell, I got no better ideas" Shikamaru commented lazily

"I'm game" Kiba replied

"Seems great to me!" Choji responded

"It seems like it'll suffice" Neji said blandly.

"Alright, Sakura hand the wheel over to Hinata. Babe you know how to get there right?" Hinata nodded as she climbed out of Naruto's arms and took Sakura's place.

"To the Namikaze estate it is" Naruto chuckled deeply, grinning.

**Well? whatcha think? Go ahead and tell me, don't be afraid to speak up! I know relationships and the group's past are really in the dark, and some things may be confusing, but i'll be delving into the mystic G.C military group that Naruto and his buddies were a part of :D. Also, I think I did okay with the kids, but I wanted to put a spin on Naruto and Hinata's kids since they're the only twins.**

**What is the secret behind Naruto's squad? What was their past? Could it be linked to the mysterious virus that's unleashed itself? Will the Namikaze estate be safe? What will our group's next step be?**

**One last note, no i'm not going to release spoilers, BUT, there will probably be slight crossover sections, which will be revealed along with the chapter they're a part of.**

**TONS OF QUESTIONS, and only one way to find out... **

**Stick around, to find out, NEXT TIME, on: A Broken Road.**

**As always, feedback, good, bad, and ugly, is greatly appreciated, so get those reviews in!**

**Also, if you haven't yet seen it, check out my other fanfic-Path of a Champion**

**Later guys!**

**-urnextnoob**


	2. Echoes of the Past

**Hey guys! It's been a while since the last update to any of my stories really, but here we are! I want to apologize, i've been run ragged with studying for finals, reviews, etc. etc. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I ended writing literally the WHOLE THING in the two hours I had after one of my exams lol :D.**

**Always remember, reviews good, bad, and ugly are welcome!**

**ANYWAY, my personal life aside, let's get back to: A Broken World**

The convoy was quiet as they made their way to the Namikaze estate. Naruto, Sasuke, and their families took lead, with Kiba, Shikamaru, Neji, and finally Choji and his family bringing up the rear. Akari, Yushin, Shinji, and Mei all played meaningless games, trying to pass the time. Naruto and Sasuke had retracted the bed covering, and were watching the forest with mild interest. Whatever anomaly had been following them before seemed to continue following. Every so often, one of them would catch a hint of movement or a flit from the end of a branch snapping. Naruto felt himself go stiff as he saw it again, breaking a tiny branch in the foilage. He wasn't able to time the movements all that well, but he knew they weren't that common. '_The less they move, the better' _he figured.

"Hey teme, should we...tell anyone this thing's been following us?" Naruto's voice rumbled quietly. Sasuke looked hard at Naruto, before sighing. He considered their options, and telling everyone would only put their already worried group in an even more stressful state. He shook his head slowly.

"I know whatever that thing is, it definitely isn't good seeing as it's been following us, but we'll just have to deal with it when the time comes. We shouldn't put everyone else so far on edge." he said. Naruto looked at his hands thoughtfully.

"Yeah, you're probably right." he muttered

"When am I not?" Sasuke smirked. Naruto grinned at him. "Hey Hina-hime! How far away are we?" Naruto asked. Just then, he spotted another dark flit in the wood, and felt his unease grow. They needed to get out of here fast.

"Only about 10 more minutes Naruto, why?" she called out. Another movement. Sasuke caught it this time, and looked to the blonde haired soldier, slight panic in his eyes.

"Just wondering babe, don't worry" He returned. He stepped close to Sasuke, and began whispering.

"You saw it didn't you? It's picking up the pace." Sasuke nodded, frowning. "We gotta keep them safe, let's lock down the cab, open the firing ports in the bedcover." He finished, casually strolling over to the cab. "Gah, what the hell stinks?" he groaned loudly.

"Language!" Sakura and Hinata scolded simultaneously. Naruto smiled sheepishly and scratched his head.

"Lemme close the cab so you guys won't smell this crap" He said, locking down the cab. Sasuke began pulling up the bedcover on his side, spotting another movement. He forced himself to remain calm as he quickened his pace. Naruto spotted another movement as he began pulling his side up, and felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of his rugged, whiskered face. Both men moved to the center and clasped the bedcover walls together over the top. They moved back to their separate sides and opened the firing ports.

Sasuke smirked as he remembered adding this to the bedcover. There was one firing port on each side, about the size of a car windshield. Granted, the defender was somewhat exposed, but the advantage was great nonetheless.

Naruto gripped his M-4 tighter as he saw not one, but two more flits in the trees. Something told him those things were starting to get impatient.

"Dobe, is it just me, or are there more of them?" Sasuke asked, his voice strained. Naruto's heart stopped as he saw...it, stop on a branch and look at him.

It was a young man, maybe 26, around average height, maybe 5'7", with gray, mottled skin, similar to that of the things they encountered on the road earlier. The speed was on obvious factor that separated them from their slow, shambling counterparts. The two things that struck a nerve in the blond soldier, were it's eyes and mouth. The eyes were a bright red with no pupil, devoid of all life whatsoever. Naruto had seen his fair share of thousand yard stares and shell-shocked faces in wartime, but the gaze he saw made him falter for the first time in years. The worst however, was it's mouth. It's cracked, dead lips spread to show three rows of needle-like teeth, razor-sharp and stained with what looked to be blood. It was only an instant that the creature stopped, but that was all it took for that one image to become permanently imbedded in his memory. It disappeared back into the trees just as quickly as it stopped, leaving Naruto frozen.

"uto...N...to...Naruto?!" Sasuke barked, breaking his comrade out of his thoughts. Naruto shook his head and looked at Sasuke with his piercing blue eyes. He dashed to the window and yanked it open.

"STEP ON IT" He bellowed, just as something landed on top of the bedcover. All of the children immediately began panicking. Mei and Akari began crying, huddling with their brothers and Sakura for comfort. Sakura opened her mouth to protest, but stopped when she saw the look Naruto gave her.

"What the hell was that?" Hinata shrieked, slamming her foot to the gas, causing the anomaly on top to roll backwards on the top of their truck.

"Forget it, just go!" Naruto yelled, shutting the cab window.

"Ace there's something on your roof!" Kiba called in his ear. Naruto gave Kiba's jeep a thumbs up as he clicked the radio in his ear off. He was about to call to Sasuke, but stopped when he saw him staring wide-eyed to the tail end. The creature he had seen not even 2 minutes ago was standing at the back entrance of the truck, not even 6 feet away from them, smiling. The blonde soldier reacted quickly, raising his rifle and firing. 4 rounds struck home in the creature's chest, making it emit a howl that chilled the two ex-G.C to the bone. The creature quickly ran forward and grabbed Naruto, throwing him into the bedcover wall right next to Sasuke. The raven haired soldier shook himself out of his stupor, and fired 3 rounds, hitting it in the hip, knee, and thing, causing it to howl once more, before rushing towards him at a severely slowed pace. Sasuke quickly rolled out of the limping creatures way, bringing his rifle to his shoulder to fire. The creature lunged at him and tackled him to the ground. Sasuke grunted as it landed on top of him, only his rifle wedged between the two. It opened it's mouth and grinned as it pushed against the rifle, attempting to chomp down on the raven haired treat below him. Naruto woozily got to his feet, only to see his squadmate pinned under the thing about to be eaten. Naruto roared as he barreled into the creature, slamming it into the wall. The creature gnashed out at him, attempting to bite down on it's restrainer. Naruto held fast, pinning it's throat to the wall with his massive forearm, while he viciously bashed it's head against the wall. The creature's growls and hisses of anger eventually sputtered out as the life was literally bashed out of it by the monolith blonde.

"Geez dobe, haven't seen you go that hard in a loooong time!" Sasuke chuckled, getting to his feet.

"Yeah, had to do something to save your sorry ass." Naruto panted, dropping the dead creature. He cut his radio back on, hearing the group in a verbal frenzy. All of them assaulted him at once with questions, but he simply told them they'd discuss everything once they were safe in the estate. The four story mansion came into view, drawing their attention, temporarily at least. As the convoy approached the gate, the security systems requested the usual, either an appointment, optical scan, or departure from the premises. Naruto hopped out of the truck and allowed the machine to scan his eye. The large, solid, yet stainless, steel gate slid open, granting them passage, and the convoy rolled through. Naruto gently pushed aside a distraught Hinata, telling her everything would be okay, and drove the group to the side of the estate, showing them where to park.

As he exited the large truck, the group immediately began asking questions, trying to figure out what the thing that attacked the truck was? Were there more of them? Were they safe here? What would they do next? Naruto frowned as his attempts to qualm everyone were subdued by the endless barrage of inquiries. He walked to the only man that seemed to match his height and brawn, Choji.

"Listen Cho, I swear to god i'll answer EVERYTHING once we're safe inside. In the meantime, will you help me shut these guys up?" he rumbled. Choji nodded.

"EVERYONE" Naruto and Choji's voices sounded like the sound barrier had just been broken. Their group was immediately silenced, allowing Naruto to speak.

"Alright, I know everyone has questions that'll probably keep us up all night, but first we need to get everyone inside and safe, got it?" Everyone nodded and began unpacking the vehicles.

* * *

Naruto grunted as he hefted the last of the weapons into the underground basement. The organizing could wait, as of now, things needed to be explained. He walked up the stairs, only to nearly collide head-on with his team. All of them looked apprehensive at the oncoming discussion, and he could sense it. Shikamaru was the first to speak up.

"I know we've gotta explain the convoy attack, and you have to explain the zombies in the road, why we've moved here, all the good shit, but what about our military status, our past..." He trailed off, not needing an ending. Naruto looked at the group thoughtfully, before speaking.

"We'll tell everyone but the kids." The group nodded, before Neji spoke up once more, finally bringing the issue that had been silently plaguing their minds for the past few hours.

"What about the mission to the rockies?" he asked quietly. Everyone froze. Naruto sighed, before addressing the issue.

"Yeah...we're gonna have to tell them about that too." he said solemnly. All of them nodded silently, and filed into the living room.

* * *

All of their wives and children were relaxing and playing in the spacious accomodation of the living room when the ex-soldiers entered, smiles all around.

"Hey guys, why don't you go explore the house some? The grown-ups need to talk alone." Naruto grinned, ruffling Shinji and Yushin's hair as they led the crusade of little ones to the rest of the house. Naruto's face grew serious as soon as the children had cleared the room.

"Alright, I know everyone's got questions, so if we ca-"

"You're damn right we do!" Tenten growled, causing Neji to frown at her. Temari and Ino jumped afterwards.

"Can you please tell us why the fuck we just up and left home?!" Ino nearly screamed. "Seriously, why the hell are we here?!" Temari held Ino's volume. Naruto sighed, but waited for them to finish their incessant torrent of questions.

Naruto sat by his wife, who looked at him, wanting answers just as much as the next woman in the room, but decided to give him a chance to explain. The blonde soldier cleared his throat as the chatter died down.

"As I was saying...I'll list things we know and don't know. We don't know what these things are, just that they clearly don't like people. They can be killed by normal means, but are extremely resistant to any sort of damage to the body, and Sasuke and I found out they go down really easy with a shot to the head. Next, I think there may be...more than one kind of them." the women gasped, as a few of the men raised their eyebrows and leaned in closer. "I know Kiba caught a glimpse of the thing that jumped on Sasuke's truck. Teme and I saw it up close though, and it was...different." He noted mutely, before continuing. "It took way more damage than one of those walkers, and it still kept had the physique of a walker, but it had these red eyes, and a good hundred shark teeth, looked like they could tear through steel. It was extremely fast, and it's stronger than most men i've met, tossed me like I was nothing but a sack of potatoes." He grimaced, rubbing his side. His raven-haired partner picked up where Naruto left off,

"I know I broke it's knee and severely damaged it's leg when I shot it, but the thing slowed by maybe a step. It tackled me to the ground, and it felt like i had gotten hit by a train. Those teeth it had probably would've crushed my skull had the ol' 'blonde barbarian' not come along. Gotta hand it to you dobe, you're one strong bastard." he smirked. Naruto grinned back at him, before turning his attention back to everyone else. With a sigh, he introduced their history.

"See, you guys know we were in the special forces, but there was a reason we were never allowed to speak of it." all the women's eyes widened as they were finally about to hear one of the only secrets between them and their significant others. Naruto, noticing all of the eyes staring at him, and the heads of his comrades hanging, continued.

"We were part of a small, elite force, known as the Guardian Core. They're not exactly a formal branch of anyone's military, they're pretty much a global force that deals with certain things that could threaten the world. All the guys here, including myself, were part of the biohazard team, known as Taskforce Hiraishin, dubbed "The Thunder Gods. Our callsign was Echo-one-Delta, with our password being omicron-sigma." He sighed as the women stared at him with blank expressions.

"Okay, special forces have a callsign. I can be all sorts of different things, elements, animals, buildings, doesn't matter. The pass, short for password, is a word or phrase that lets the unit know they're being contacted or requested by a legitimate friendly unit, not an impostor. That clear things?" He chided with a smirk. All of them scowled in return, but nodded.

"Good thing, now anyway, back to what I was saying. Granted, we _were_ special forces, so we did see our fair share of combat, deployments in Iraq, Africa, Turkmenistan, Sudan, etc. etc. Our main job however, was preventing viral outbreaks that could lead to possible apocalyptic events."

There was another sharp intake of air from everyone's wives at this fact. Naruto paused, feeling his wife's hand intertwine with his own, before continuing.

"We disposed of more viral and biological agents than, at least I, can remember. Things from a weaponized strain of tuberculosis that could kill within minutes, to strains of shingles that literally drove people batshit insane." He took a second to let his words sink in, his nervousness growing as he looked at his former teammates. All of them reluctantly nodded for him to continue. He took a deep breath, and spoke.

"Which kinda brings us in to things right now. I know all of Echo-one-Delta remembers, they just didn't wanna mention it to anyone. Anyway, around 4 years ago, we were given a top-secret mission to the rocky mountains. Apparently a couple of brilliant scientists had teamed up together and were experimenting with human beings, attempting to create what they dubbed 'The perfect being'. They'd done everything from stem-cell research to genetic splicing. They ended up essentially creating their own virus, which they named **Solanum Subortus, **meaning 'nightshade revival' or something along those lines. It had the ability to reanimate the brain of it's carrier after death. It was deemed a crime against humanity, and by the request of the American government, our unit was sent in to shut them down and confiscate all the evidence."

Naruto paused once more as his eyes seemed to glaze with tears, but they faded as soon as they came. Hinata squeezed his hand once more for support, and he continued.

"The experiments were conducted by three main individuals, as well as several off their peers, but the three leaders were: Dr. Orochimaru Yashagoro, Dr. Alfred Furnace, and Orochimaru's assistant, Kabuto Yakushi. Apparently, something had gone wrong with an experiment, and the subject attacked the staff. Uknown to them, it was spread throughout the facility, and the infected proceeded to kill anything living they could find. When we arrived, the entire place was chaos, the infected roamed the premises, dead, half-eaten bodies of assorted people and animals littered the place, and they were, obviously, incredibly hostile." Naruto's hands had begun trembling at this point, his breath shortened. Sasuke proceeded to pick up where his best friend left off.

"Our team consisted of Snake, Fox, known as Ace by his all of us, Shepherd, Shadow, Phantom, Tank, and Sandman. Respectively, Myself, Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, Neji, Choji, and...Gaara." Sasuke swallowed hard remembering their fallen comrade.

"Who was Gaara?" Sakura asked gently, pulling her husband's arm. Sasuke choked back his tears, and with a clear of his throat, he continued.

"He was the seventh member of our squad, K.I.A in the mission to the rockies..."

***FLASHBACK***

The mountain scene was silent, snow sitting atop the summits, only disturbed by the helicopter that zipped across the rockies, headed to the coordinates. The chopper slowed down until it hovered over a small platform of snow leading to a black fissure. A red light in the passenger bay blinked as a small siren blared

"Alright you bastards, here we go!" Echo-one-Delta's 6'3" blonde monolith of a captain boomed. Everyone fell into line behind their captain.

"Fall in on me!" Fox called as he repelled from the side of the vertibird. One by one the team fell into their line, Ace in the lead, followed by Snake and Shepherd on his immediate flanks. The back row consisted of the support, with snipers Shadow and Phantom approximately 2 meters behind their captain's immediate flanks, with Tank and Sandman arranged in a two-person row behind the captain.

"Falcon 2-5 we'll give you the signal for extraction." the captain radioed to the hovering VTOL which tilted it's propellers in recognition before flying away.

"Everyone knows the deal. Get in, eliminate the targets, set the charges, and get out." Ace called through their headsets. All of them gave various grunts of approval as they moved into the base.

Upon reaching what was supposed to be the vault-style door sealing the facility's entrance, they found it completely open and unguarded. Ace raised an eyebrow as he noticed the strange spectacle that greeted them.

"Alright ladies, keep it tight." he muttered into his radio. Everyone seemed to tense slightly at the command, but moved on fluidly. As they moved through the hallway and into the entrance plaza, they gasped at the grisly sight that greeted them. Arbitrary bodyparts were strewn and stuck to various parts of the room, accompanied by the stench of unadulterated death that radiated from the deceased, half-eaten bodies that were laid around the room. Ace swallowed hard, trying to suppress the urge to vomit. Even in his years of being with the military, he'd seen the bad and the ugly, but never anything that measured up to this.

"Phantom where are we?" he asked shakily in the mic. His squadmate checked his wrist-mounted GPS and found there position, relaying it to the captain.

"T-the entrance plaza" he responded uneasily.

"Eagle-eye this is Captain Naruto Uzumaki of Echo-one-Delta, requesting assistance at coordinates 46-98-42, approximately 13 deceased scientists found at entrance, possible hostiles in the vicinity." Ace spoke in. the radio crackled, but spoke.

"Echo-one-Delta this is Eagle-eye, request denied, you and your team are the only ones qualified to take this mission. Orders still stand, find and capture the HVT's along with any significant evidence and information, evacuate and destroy the complex. Eagle-eye out." the radio died away, leaving the team alone.

Ace swore as he turned to his team.

"Our orders still stand, so let's get this over with. Weapons free, proceed with extreme caution." he warned. All of them gave a nod and fell back into position. The group continued through the plaza, occasionally slowing to observe the carnage left behind by the still unknown assailants. They proceeded into one of the main workstations, only to be stopped as they heard a moan emit from the room in front of them.

"What the fuck was that?" Shepherd asked worriedly, only to be silenced by the raised fist of their second in command, Snake. Ace proceeded slowly, thankful for the lights of the facility still being active. He raised his weapon as the full of the room came into view, a lone figure staggering in what seemed to be an aimless path. It suddenly stopped, then whirled it's head to the side, staring at Naruto with two grayed, dead eyes. It emitted it's horrid moan once more, before it began a shuffling-jog towards the group.

Ace raised his ACR and fired 4 quick shots, causing it to fall. He gave a hand signal for his team to stop as he slowly walked forward to check the body. He gave them the clear to move up as he found no vital signs, only to be quickly proved wrong as it dragged it's arms under it, and slowly pushed up. Ace quickly stepped back and waited for it to stand again. He heard his entire team gasp over the radio as it go to it's feet and staggered towards them with a moan, ignoring the 4 gaping bullet wounds in it's abdomen. Ace fired again, hitting it once in the heart, 2 in it's thigh, and another in it's throat. The creature fell backwards and hit the ground with a thud, gurgling as the fluids flowed from a severed artery in it's neck. It once again, although even more slowly, got to it's feet and shambled towards the members of Echo-one-Delta. Naruto switched to fully automatic before emptying the rest of his magazine into the creature. It was literally shredded by the heavy rifle fire, losing an arm at the elbow before falling with it's head hanging to it's abdomen by half it's neck. It seemed to convulse slightly, before laying still. Everyone stood there silently as they waited for their captain to speak.

"Let's hurry up and get our targets and get the hell out of here. Shepherd, Phantom, on me. Snake, you take the others. We'll split up, radio in if anything happens or the targets are found, got it?" The team nodded curtly as they split off and began the search.

**-Ace's team-**

"Phantom, give me some scans here, I don't want us walking around blind." Ace grunted. Phantom kept pace with his two teammates as he ran various structural, biological, and heat-signature scans. He abruptly stopped, earning quizical glances from his teammates. He continued to stare hard at the scan results, before finally raising his head to inform the two soldiers.

"There's no sign of human life in this branch whatsoever." he spoke in disbelief. Shepherd immediately tried to reprimand him while Ace contacted Snake's team.

"What do you mean no human life?! Are you saying something besides humans did what we saw back in the entrance plaza?" he barked.

"I'm not saying something besides people did what we saw back there, i'm just saying my scans aren't returning any lifesigns, what else do you-" he was interrupted from his rebuttal as a moan came from the end of the hallway.

"Back to the entrance plaza! Just get there!" Ace screamed though his earpiece as the undead clambered down the hallway towards them.

"OI QUIT FUCKIN AROUND AND START FIRING!" Naruto roared as he raised his rifle and began pumping lead into the oncoming horde. His two comrades quickly fell in with him and began firing into the onslaught.

"Headshots! Remember to go for headshots!" Neji yelled, slamming another magazine into his M-14.

**-Snake's team-**

"Get me some scans A.S.A.P Shadow." he said as he led his team down other branch of the facility, eyeing their surroundings carefully.

"Uh, sSnake, all scans are...inconclusive..." he said shakily

"What do you me- Ace? What is it? No life signs? We didn't get any either. I know, i'm not su- huh? What?! Why?! Alright on our way!" Snake spoke seriously, turning to his team.

"They ran into more of those things, we're meeting them back at the entrance plaza!" he commanded as he sprinted towards the entrance. Tank, Sandman, and Shadow all hurried after him, missing the moans that came after them from the other end of their hallway...

**-"Eagle-Eye"-**

"Somebody, for the love of god, tell me HOW in the hell we can't reach them?! It's been over 3 hours since their last report, and i'm not sure about all of you, but I don't exactly like losing one of the best assets we have!" The commander yelled to the staff in front of him, all working vigorously at their computers.

"Sir, we trying all we can to tunnel a radio connection to them!" a corporal called. It only seemed to agitate their superior further.

"Trying doesn't really seem to be making the cut soldier, I need some damn results!"

"Y-yes sir!"

"Sir! Here! It's Captain Uzumaki!" A private waved down the commander, holding out his headset. The commander briskly walked to him and grabbed the mic.

"Echo-one-Delta this is Eagle-Eye, do you copy?"

"This is Captain Naruto Uzumaki of Echo-one-Delta! *gunshots, followed by a few barked commands* Requesting an immediate evac from extraction point! We have one critically injured and we are low on ammunition! Additional request, call in Charlie's Angels, I repeat, call in Charlie's Angels! We were unable to eradicate the facility, and we are under attack by *more gunshots, followed by a scream, then more gunshots* infected personel! HVT's unaccounted for, unknown if deceased or M.I.A, data collected, but we need an evac if we're gonna get this information out!" the taskforce captain screamed though his headset.

"Roger that, Falcon 2-5 is enroute, loaded for bear so support will be available! 405th airborne "Charlie's Angels" will be dispatched after your extraction, extraction e.t.a 10 minutes, Eagle-Eye out!" The commander barked.

"GET THEM OUTTA THERE!" the commander roared, but the room was already deploying the extraction team before he was even done talking.

**-Facility-**

"They're on their way, 10 more minutes!" Ace boomed over the gunfire and moaning. He grimly surveyed his fatigued team that were holding the makeshift barricade against the unending horde. _'Ain't no rest for the wicked' _he thought, slamming another magazine into his ACR.

**-*FLASHBACK WITHIN A FLASHBACK (:D)*-**

After both teams had gone back to the entrance plaza, the undead had come from another branch, and we're waiting with bloody hands and open maws for the soldiers that stormed in. Both teams had tried to route their attackers down the branch that Snake's team had gone down, only to come face to face with another, albeit smaller, group of undead. They quickly dispatched the ones in their way and ran down the branch, ducking into the very first room that came into view. Fortunately, luck was on Echo-one-Delta's side this time. Not only was it devoid of undead, it just so happened that it was the main office of Orochimaru and Furnace. They quickly silenced their radios and shut the blinds to the office, holding their breaths as the undead walked ahead in search of their prey. As soon as the undead were a safe distance away, the team went to work scavenging all of the information from the various files and computers they could. It was only a mere 20 minutes and they had secured various information on experiments, patient files, viral statistics, and plenty more.

Shadow and Phantom have Ace the thumbs up, and he quietly peered through the blinds.

"Three of them, 2 meters left. We'll break out, eliminate them, then sprint for the entrance plaza, hoo-rah?"

"Hoo-rah." they all whispered in agreement. The captain took a stance by the door and made a silent countdown with his free hand. 3. 2. 1. The door flung open, and the group quickly cut down the three unknowing zombies. A series of moans came from the direction of the inner facility, and no sooner had the moans reached them, the undead were shambling after them, maws open and waiting for their prey.

"4 IN THE BACK, 3 IN THE FRONT, ALTERNATING ROW, SUPPRESING FIRE!" Ace yelled as he began leading the group at a sprint back towards the entrance. The group moved quickly, slowly cutting the ranks of their pursuers one cranium at a time.

"They're thinning out!" Sandman grunted as he let another burst from his M-16 smash the skull of a zombie.

"Don't let up!" Choji boomed beside him, shredding the horde with his modified M-249 S.A.W. The group soon reached the entrance plaza, only to nearly be surrounded by the horde Ace, Shepherd, and Phantom had run into earlier.

"BACK TO THE ENTRANCE!" Shepherd barked, blowing away a trio of undead with his PANCOR Jackhammer. The team continued to retreat from the undead horde who was hot on their heels, closing the all the sets of doors as they reached the entrance plaza once more.

"I don't care if we're using these other goddamn dead bodies, let's get some fortifications going!" Ace barked as he grabbed a bench and pressed it into the broken doorway. The undead we're still stuck one doorway behind Echo-one-Delta, but the time it granted them was little if any. The entire team began grabbing chairs, tables, light fixtures, anything they could get there hands, jamming the doorway to hold of the encroaching horde. As Sandman went to grab another chair, one of the supposed dead bodies suddenly yanked his leg out from under them, sending him to the ground with a thud and a grunt. He had no time to react as the zombie quickly flopped on top of him and tore his vest off, then began ripping his gut open.

Snake quickly turned at the screams of his red-haired comrade, and unloaded 3 bullets into the zombie, hitting it's shoulder, chest, then head. He quickly rushed over to see his friend gasping for breath as his guts were strewn out of his distended stomach.

**-*BACK TO THE PRESENT (OF THE FLASHBACK)*-**

"Phantom! Help me out here!" Snake screamed as he yanked a gauze roll from a compartment on his combat vest. He tried stemming the blood that was steadily forming a pool under the dying Sandman. Phantom quickly rushed over, holding down his lunch as he yanked out a gauze roll of his own, trying to help Snake save their friend.

"Oh...guh...god...it hurts guys...it hurts..." Sandman gargled, blood beginning to flow from his mouth.

"I know pal, I know, it's gonna be all right, we're gonna get you out!" Snake yelled as he pressed a morphine stick into Sandman's leg.

"Take all the padding and press down, I'm gonna try and wrap it." Phantom instructed harshly.

"Hold the line!" Ace yelled as he ran over to see the situation with the incapacitated Sandman. He let his rifle fall to his side as he knelt down to observe the carnage that had been wrecked on his red-haired teammate. Phantom and Snake were desperately trying to close his guts, but even a novice medic like Ace knew Sandman was not long for this world. Ace quickly radioed in the information they had so far

"C-Cap...I'm s-s-s-sorrryyyyy I coulddddn't d-d-d-d-ooo muh-muh-morrreeee." Sandman gurgled through the blood, tears streaming from his aqua eyes set above the tan, handmade mask that obscured his face. He weakly raised a hand to his captain and friend, who took it and gripped it tightly.

"It's alright buddy, you did fine, you did just fine. It's alright, take it easy. Shhh, it's alright, everything's fine, the evac'll be here soon." Naruto choked back his tears as Sandman cried, exhibited by a harsh gurgle. His cries slowly faded, and his body shuddered one last time, and he lay still.

"No no no no NO NO NO! GOD FUCKING DAMNIT NO!" Phantom screamed.

"DAMNIT!" Snake cursed, standing up and pulling his hair in agony. Ace shut his deceased comrade's eyes, taking a moment to mourn him.

"We could use some help over here!" Shadow called out as he resorted to firing into the mob with his Glock 17. Ace ripped off Sandman's tags in anguish, then stood up. Tears escaping his cold, blue eyes, he emptied his last rifle magazine, and promptly switched to his custom, chrome fitted M-1911. He fired with no remorse, feeling nothing as he put bullet after bullet in between gray, dead eyes. It was only the screams of Snake that brought him back to reality.

"EVAC IS HERE, MOVE YOUR ASS!" Ace retreated, emptying his last magazines into the crowd as the barricade crumbled under the weight of the encroaching horde. He took one last look at the disemboweled body of his red-haired comrade before sprinting out of the hallway and hopping on the VTOL with the rest of his as it took off and flew away from the carnage. Even as the undead streamed out onto the mountainside, only to be plastered by a combination of heavy machine gun fire from their vertibird, then napalm as the 405th rolled in. Even as the entire facility was blown to pieces, and the mountaintop crumbled to the bottom, Ace still felt nothing but remorse and grief at the first, and what would be the only, member K.I.A, Gaara Subaku of Taskforce Hiraishin...

**-*END FLASHBACK*-**

Several of the women were in silent tears, along with their husbands, at the gruesome story they had just been told. Naruto snapped them back to the present with a few solemn, yet still inspiring words.

"Gaara was a guy who didn't talk a whole lot, but he always wanted people to be happy. Even if he didn't know our wives, he'd still give us that frown and 'Hn' if he saw we were sitting her mulling over how he died. Bury that hatchet for now?" Naruto said with a small smile, wiping away his tears. His team nodded, sad smiles across their faces.

"I'm so sorry" Hinata murmured in his ear as she clutched his arm. He looked at her lovingly, and pressed his forehead against hers, closing his eyes.

"Hey dad! our crusade is hungry! We got any ramen?" Shinji yelped as he and his sister led the group into the living room. The adults jumped for the distraction and all led the kids to the kitchen.

"I think we can find something." Naruto chuckled heartily.

* * *

After a late lunch, a check of supplies, along with bedroom arrangements, it crept around to be 9:00, and everyone was ready to drop where they stood. Naruto checked the estate cameras and alarms once more before heading off to the bedroom, accompanied by a weary Shinji and Akari. He climbed into the large, king sized bed that was in the corner of his father's room, and helped his family become situated. Akari clung to her mother while Shinji snuggled against his father, both parents smiling down at their children.

"Naruto?" Hinata asked gently.

"What is it babe?"

"Are...are you sure we can keep them safe?" she asked worriedly, gazing from the sleeping her son to her daughter.

"I swear on my life nothing will happen to you, or our kids. Besides, they're strong, they do have your genes after all" he managed to grin before yawning, his wife following in suite.

"I trust you. Goodnight my love" Hinata whispered gently, kissing her beloved before closing her eyes.

"Love you too hime."

Naruto lay awake for a few minutes longer, truly contemplating if he could save his family from the fate that had befallen his comrade those years ago.

**PHEW, that was a pretty good chapter if you ask me :D. I really dedicated this chapter to go ahead and shed some light on Echo-one-Delta's history, and their involvement in the infection in the present world. **

**I based the 405th "Charlie's Angels" off of the 405th "Green Dragons", who were an aerial tactical missile squadron primarily active in WW2. I'll admit, I didn't put a whole lot of research into the whole callsign pass thing from the military, but I think the system I used is original and works well for the story. **

**Orochimaru's last name comes from "The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya", from which one of Jiraiya's student's name was Yashagoro, until he was corrupted by snake magic and took the name Orochimaru. Dr. Alfred Furnace comes from the creator of Furnace Penitentiary, Alfred Furnace. All that belongs to Alexander Gordon Smith by the way, check his books out!**

**Anyway, tell me what you thought of everything, give me any ideas you may have, tell me what you like and didn't like, go crazy! **

**As always, all feedback, good, bad, and ugly is appreciated, so get those reviews in!**

**Until next time-urnextnoob**


	3. On The Horizon

**Hey everyone! Sorry about the lack of updates, things are probably going to be a little rocky for a little while. I'm switching jobs, plus i've got practice for my school's wrestling team alot, which leaves me very drained unfortunately. Anyway, I know this is a short one, but I hope everyone enjoys anyway. As always, feedback of any kind is greatly appreciated, so PM, review, whatever it is, let me know!**

**Anyway, let's get back to: A Broken World**

**One week later...**

Naruto cracked an eye open as he heard a chorus of yawns from his bed. His family were all slumped in a sitting position, waking, or at least attempting, to wake up. He prayed silently that they would simply go back to sleep as he inched deeper under the blankets.

"I saw you move!" Akari chirped as she jumped on him. He sighed, but smiled nonetheless, raising his daughter above him.

"Morning sweetheart" he smiled softly. Akari giggled as she hugged him close.

"G'mornin daddy!" she said kissing his nose. He chuckled as he sat up and leaned against the headboard of the large bed, holding his daughter close. Not wanting to be left out, Shinji hopped up and ran and jumped into his dad's lap with his sister. He looked up with his large violet and eyes and grinned. Naruto chuckled as he pulled both of them close.

"Hey guys, awesome idea! How about we go back to sleep?" he yawned, tossing them to the foot of the bed. they erupted into a fit of giggles as they began wrestling. Hinata looked lovingly at the scene, and emitted a small 'Eep!' when she was suddenly pulled close by a pair of strong, tan arms.

"Didn't think I forgot about you, did ya hime?" he mumbled as he turned her around to face him. She smiled softly, dragging a pale, creamy hand across his rugged, whiskered face. He flashed a foxy grin before pulling her close and laying on her shoulder. He dozed lightly as she ran a hand through his blonde locks.

"No more sleeping dad!" Shinji yelled as he tumbled over and started tickling him. He laughed deeply before picking him up with one hand. Shinji glared at him with a grin as he tried to escape.

"Yeah? and what're YOU gonna do about little man?" Naruto cocked an eyebrow and smirked.

"Reinforcements!" Akari shrieked as she jumped on him and began tickling him. He dropped his son, only to receive another assault in return. Hinata giggled as she watched her twins children fruitlessly try and out wrestle their gargantuan of a father.

"Come on Hina! Breakfast time! We should make pancakes again! I got the two sacks of flour right here!" he rumbled with a grin, tossing the frantically laughing children over his shoulder. Hinata shook her head as she got up and walked after them.

_'Maybe we really can just ride things out here.'_ Naruto thought as he walked out.

* * *

"Daddy wake uuuuup!" Mei groaned as she pounded a small fist on Sasuke's chest. He cracked a single eye and glared at her, while she simply grinned in return. With a grunt, he sat up, smirking at the form of his eldest son and wife sleeping soundly next to him.

"Why didn't you just wake them?" he muttered tiredly. She giggled before clamoring into his lap and snuggling against him.

"Well you know how mommy gets if you wake her too early, and I like Yushin. So that just leaves you!" she chirped. He glowered at her before laying back down.

"Noooo! Wake up!" she groaned once more.

"Nope."

"But whyyyyy?!" Mei cried

"Cuz YOU don't like me!" Sasuke said faking hurt, rolling over with a 'hmph'

"But daaaad!" she moaned. Sasuke finally relented and snatched the small girl up in his arms before tossing her into the air. She giggled as she nuzzled against her black-haired father.

"One sec squirt, lemme wake Yushin and mommy. Go ahead to the kitchen, we'll be there soon." Sasuke encouraged with a small smile. Mei grinned before running off. Sasuke crawled back into the bed, gently resting against his wife. He ran a hand through her bubble-gum pink hair, a small smile on his face.

"Hey love, time to wake up." he murmured. She stirred lightly, rolling over to lean against him.

"Sasuke-kun..." she mumbled, wrapping her arms around him. He smiled, running a hand down her back.

"Come on baby, we gotta get up..." he mumbled, slightly louder. Her emerald green eyes fluttered open, looking up to meet him. She smiled, before nuzzling against his chest.

"Nooo, come on Sakura, we gotta get up. It's like, 11:00." he said. Sakura grumbled before sitting up. She eyed him with a cocked eyebrow, before stretching her arms above her head with a yawn.

"Too early." she said simply, getting out of bed to walk to the kitchen. He chuckled as he crawled over to his son.

"Yus-" he was interrupted as his son jumped up and caught him in a headlock.

"HA! I GOT YOU!" He yelled triumphantly, only to be shaken off like a pesky flea. He laughed as Sasuke threw him over a shoulder and began to walk towards the kitchen.

"Hn. kids." Sasuke muttered with a smile.

* * *

"No! I told you not to pull my hair! OW! Alright you little..." Naruto yelped as he was assaulted by the present day children's crusade. His own kids attempted to pin one of his tree trunk arms while Yushin and Mei desperately clung to the other. Izumi and Hana kept trying to trip him by clinging to his legs. He seemed to maintain control until a lazy voice rung out from atop one of the couches.

"It's troublesome, but TIMBERRRR!" Shikaru echoed as he jumped and slammed into Naruto's midsection, effectively toppling the giant into the floor. He groaned as all of the children swarmed him at once.

Everyone seemed to ignore Naruto's desperate pleas for help as they made breakfast. Hinata and Sakura chatted over coffee while Sasuke, Choji, and Shikamaru all made breakfast.

"Where'd Neji go?" Kiba yawned as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"I think he talked about checking the cameras or somethin." Tenten said. He nodded as he sipped his coffee.

"Someone go get him! Breakfast is gonna be ready in a second!" Tenten scolded.

"Yes ma'am, Mrs. stickuptheass, ma'am!" Kiba saluted, guffawing as he ran off before she could manage to slash him with a kitchen knife.

"Yo Neji!" Kiba called as he came up on Minato Namikaze's office. He paused when he heard labored breathing, almost like something growling. He tensed immediately, trying to peer through the door. It didn't help that the only figure was slumped in the chair, hiding it's face from view. He flung the door open and dashed at the figure. He stopped an inch away from tackling it form the chair when he realized it was Neji, dead asleep and _snoring_ on the desk. Kiba took a deep breath and was about to scream when he stopped himself. He grinned and turned to run back to the kitchen when the front yard's camera caught his eye. The undead had begun to pile up against the gate over the past week, but weren't enough to really do anything but be a nuisance. Kiba noticed the numbers were a bit higher than the last time, but he simply shrugged it off, making a mental note to tell the others later on. He focused on the task at hand, and grinning once more, rushed to the kitchen.

"Dude! Ace! Ace! Come on, I got an idea!" Kiba spilled quickly, before sprinting back up the office. Naruto just gave everyone a look of puzzlement before following his wildman teammate. His reaction was very similar to Kiba's. Kiba quickly whispered the plan to his captain, and both looked at one another with a grin. They gingerly lifted the chair that held Neji, and took it downstairs to another exit of the house. They set the still oblivious Neji down outside of the pool, before running back inside.

"Guys, come quick!" they both shouted before sprinting back outside. Everyone followed them, curious as to what the duo was planning. TenTen was quickly restrained by Tayuya and Ino who desperately trying to stifle their laughs as Kiba and Naruto gingerly picked up Neji by his arms and legs.

"1!2!3!" Naruto whispered. Both heaved back before throwing Neji a good four feet into the air. He happened to awaken in mid flight to the strange sensation of falling. _'Must be dreaming again' _he thought indifferently, only to have the thoughts thrown out of his head as he crashed into the pool's surface. Literally everyone and their mother erupted into laughter as a spluttering Neji made his way to the surface, frantically looking around in bewilderment.

"WHAT THE?! Where?! Huh?!" Neji looked around as he tread the water, until his eyes came to the group who was laughing. He ground his teeth as he swam to the side and got out. Wringing his hair out, he scoffed at the group before walking inside.

"*pant* Neji! Come on dude! Don't be a *pant* sore sport!" Kiba tried to call between wheezes, only making him and his blonde haired companion laugh even harder. Neji flipped the bird as he went inside to change. After about 10 minutes, the group's laughter had subsided to the occasional giggle, so they all went inside.

"Aright, back to breakfast!" Naruto and Choji boomed happily. Everyone else followed suit with increased vigor. Neji reluctantly joined, desperately resisting the urge to kill Kiba and Naruto, who were stifling their laughter throughout breakfast.

"I hate you guys so much" Neji grumbled as he stood up and put his plate in the sink, eliciting a guffaw from the table. Naruto slowed his laughs as he got up and grabbed another stack of pancakes along with Choji. Both cracked a smile as they sat down. Suddenly, smiles were gone, and as if by mutual understanding, both immediately began to tear into their food. Choji inwardly smirked as he saw himself begin to pull ahead of Naruto, only for the blonde to seemingly pull some extra speed right from the air and push ahead. The entire table went silent as the two monolith soldiers went on a rampage.

"FIRST!" They both barked simultaneously. They met eyes, and everyone swore they could see the lightning from their eyes meet in the middle. They continued their death gaze before breaking out into roars of laughter. Everyone followed in suit, finishing breakfast happily.

"Dad can we go shooting?" Shinji asked as he brought another load of dirty plates to the dirty dishes. His dad smirked and shook his head.

"I dunno buddy, we are kinda running low on ammo..." Naruto lied, scrubbing another plate clean. His blue-haired son frowned, looking dejected as he trudged into the other room, only for his backup to arrive perfectly timed.

"LIAR!" Akari screeched. The blonde soldier raised an eyebrow at her as he continued to wash the dishes. On cue, Yushin and Shinji came out carrying a duffle bag with various ammunition. Naruto sighed as he smiled at the group before him.

"Alright, ya found me out. Go get everyone else, once they're ready we'll go out back. Now get!" he yelped. The boys dropped the bag on the floor and ran off with Akari to ready everyone for a trip to the shooting range. Naruto gave another sigh as he finished the dishes. He snatched the ammo sack and threw it on his back, then walked up to his room to get dressed. He set the ammo bag by the door and walked inside, slightly taken aback when his gorgeous wife was getting dressed, her back turned to him. She hummed softly as she pulled a lavender tanktop on. She reached for her pants when a pair of strong arms gripped her and pulled her close.

"Shouldn't you lock the door when you do this?" Naruto whispered huskily, causing her to bite her lips in excitement.

"Maybe I left it unlocked for a reason" she purred seductively, turning and wrapping her arms around his neck. He smirked as he softly nipped her neck, slowly sliding an hand up her tanktop. She gave a quiet moan as he caressed her breast. He spun her around in one fluid motion and brought her close, kissing her feverishly. She jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist, wrapping her arms around his neck completely. The two slowly made their way to the bed, and gently laid down, Naruto on top of his beautiful wife-

"MOOOOOOOOM, DAAAAAAAAAD!" Shinji roared as he walked towards the room. Years of sexually evading their children had honed the couple's skills of hiding their endeavors. Naruto quickly rolled over, tossing Hinata her pants as she dashed to the bathroom. He panicked as he tried to think of what to do to his encroaching children. He simply flopped down on the bed and slammed his eyes shut, and began softly snoring.

"Dad eve-" Shinji sweatdropped as he found his father snoozing. He frowned, then gave a battle cry as he ran and jumped onto the blonde giant. Naruto gave a grunt, not expecting the reaction he provoked from his son. He rolled over, tossing the boy from his perch on his stomach. Shinji deftly landed on his feet, scowling at his father.

"What?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

"Everyone's ready to go shooting! Why the hell are you al-OW!" Shinji clutched his head in pain. His lavender haired mother had walked out of the bathroom just in time to hear him curse.

"Shinji what did I tell you about cursing!" she scolded, giving him a silver-eyed glare. The blue-haired boy cowered in response, not letting his eyes meet his mother's.

"I-i'm sorry mum! It was just an a-accident, I swear!" he spoke frantically. Naruto stifled a laugh as he saw the scene play out before him, only to nearly piss his pants as his wife turned her vehement glare in his direction.

"Don't think I didn't see you laughing Naruto! Why would you let your son act like this?" she asked exasperatedly. He let his laugh escape, dodging a slap from his wife as he snatched up Shinji and ran out of the room, grabbing the ammo sack on the way out.

"Dad she's gonna be so pissed!" Shinji murmured worriedly as he. Naruto simply laughed even more, remembering one of the first times he'd made his wife mad...

***FLASHBACK***

A 16 year old Naruto was laying out on his girlfriend's couch watching t.v. It had been a long day at school, plus he'd had a shift at Ichiraku's afterward. He could tell his girlfriend was equally stressed, but he wasn't sure why. With her father out of town for a few days and her sister staying with a friend for the week, Hinata had the house to herself, thus Naruto just decided to crash there. He suddenly heard a scream, and before he could even react, Hinata was in front of the t.v, staring at him, an extremely dark, crooked smile on her face...

"Naruto-kun?" she asked far too sweetly for his liking.

"Yeah?"

"Did you eat my last cinnamon roll?" she asked once more, impossibly sweeter than last time.

"Y-yeah? I mean, it was just kinda there, so I figured why not, ya know? Why, what's wrong?" he asked tentatively as he slowly sat up. He felt his stomach drop as her eye twitched and her tilted to the side slightly.

"Hinata-chan? W-wha-" He was cut off as a vase hurtled towards his head at speeds previously unseen by man. He barely got out of the way in time before it crashed into the wall.

"What the fuck was that for?!" He barked, only to receive another vase in return. "Hina chill out!" he yelped desperately, making the mistake of standing still, causing one of her high-top sneakers to collide full force with his face. He cried out and clutched his eye in pain as he retreated, jumping behind a chair to dodge the onslaught. Taking one more deep breath, he grabbed his keys and made a beeline for the door, barely evading a glass shattering against the door behind him. He drove into town wide-eyed as he wracked his brain for what could have set her off like that. Fortunately, knowledge hit him like the shoe to his eye, and he drove to her favorite bakery.

* * *

"O-one dozen cinnamon rolls please" Naruto said hastily, earning an estranged look from the baker. He filled a box with twelve hot, fresh cinnamon rolls, and handed it to Naruto. Naruto slapped down 50 ryo, muttered his thanks and left, leaving a stunned shopkeeper in his wake.

* * *

Hinata fumed as she finished cleaning up the bits and pieces of the various items she'd thrown at her boyfriend. She sighed as she threw it into the trash.

"Maybe I acted a little rash, he didn't know I've had a long day, it wasn't his fault." she mumbled to herself as she leaned against the counter top. Her head shot up when the doorbell rang. She walked briskly, and felt a horrid combination of guilt, sadness, and anger when she Naruto on the other-side with a black eye and a fearful look. She swung the door open and stared at him with a worrying, yet hard gaze

"You ate my cinnamon rolls, what do you want?" she interrogated. He visibly flinched, before timidly pulling the box out from behind his back and opening it

"I-I'm sorry baby, I-I brought you some more. J-just don't throw anything e-else at me please!" he begged. She gave a squeal of joy as she snatched the box out of his hands, grabbed his hand, and pulled them both inside. She immediately began eating them out of the box, much to Naruto's relief. She felt satisfied after she'd eaten five of them, and threw Naruto back onto the couch, snuggling him close.

"I looooove you" she cooed as she kissed him. He gave her a nervous smile in return, hesitantly wrapping his arms around her.

"Love you too hime, just remind to never m-make you mad again" he mumbled.

***END FLASHBACK***

Naruto guffawed at the memory as he jogged to the living room with his son in the crook of his arm. Shinji hopped out of his father's grasp, laughing as he ran to the kitchen.

"Hang on dad, i'm thirsty!" he called.

"Don't be too long" Naruto said as he rummaged through the ammo sack. He heard a glass shatter, followed by a scream. He rushed to the kitchen to see Shinji staring wide-eyed out of the window. He followed his gaze to the setting sun's horizon, and felt his stomach drop as he saw the rest of the front gate topple under the overwhelming numbers of the undead.

**I know, I know, I hate doing cliffhangers as much as the next guy, but not only was it a good stopping point, it'll also set the groundwork for SO much of the story to come. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and I'll keep working to update as fast as I can. Like I said, get those reviews and tell me what you think and what you wanna see, i'm always open to suggestions!**

**Until next time everyone-urnextnoob**


	4. Gains and Losses

**Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter, and I hope you enjoy! As for my absence, work, post school stuff, etc. I dunno, kinda starting to run out of excuses...ANYWAY, you guys know the drill, any and all feedback, good, bad, and ugly, is greatly appreciated!**

**Here it is-A Broken World**

Sasuke smiled as he tossed Mei into the air, making her giggle like a madman. He tossed her up high once more, pulling her close as she laughed. She wrapped her small arms around his neck and squeezed.

"I love you daddy" she murmured, looking up at him and smiling. He pulled her close and squeezed his eyes shut, suppressing the urge to cry. He pulled her up in front of him and smiled brightly. He'd never known he could value something in his life so much.

"I love you too baby." She planted a kiss on his lips and flopped down on his chest. He cradled her as he lay on the couch, staring at the ceiling. He was interrupted from his peaceful time with his daughter as he heard a scream come from upstairs. Mei perked up, looking at him with worry. He pulled out his HK23 and stood up, holding his daughter close. He nearly shot Naruto down in cold blood as the blonde reeled around the corner with a panicked look on his face.

"GO TELL SAKURA TO START PACKING EVERYTHING. GET CHO AND NEJI. GRAB A GUN AND MEET ME ON THE THIRD FLOOR. THE FRONT GATE'S DOWN AND THEY'RE COMING THROUGH. I'LL GET THE OTHERS, JUST MOVE!" he screamed, as he ran off. Sasuke felt a lump in his throat as he looked down on his daughter. She looked at him, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

"Listen sweetheart, you know I won't let anything happen to you, but I need you to focus with me here okay?" he asked determinedly as he crouched in front of her. She sniffled, but nodded her head.

"Okay baby, go to our room and get all the clothes you can and start putting them in our bags okay?"

"O-okay daddy." she replied hesitantly. The raven-haired soldier hugged her tightly before motioning her to move. He swallowed hard before sprinting towards the basement.

* * *

Tayuya smiled as she watched Kiba play with their daughter. He was on his back, while she laid on his feet and he did leg-lifts, imitating an airplane for her. _'Even for a wildman like him, he's gentle where it counts'_ she thought. Izumi pushed off of his feet, briefly going into the air before she hit Kiba's chest with a thump. She giggled as he pulled her close, playfully biting her cheek. He finally stopped, holding her above him and grinning happily.

"Daddy, why don't we play with mommy too?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Kiba grinned and set her down, slowly looking in the direction of his red-haired wife.

"I dunno, why DON'T we play with mommy?" he drawled, slowly getting on his hands and knees. Tayuya laughed nervously, her eyes flitting from the door to her husband. Just as she was about to sprint for the door, she was tackled by Kiba. He mercilessly tickled her, causing her to squeal in protest.

"K-Kiba stop! STOP!" Tayuya yelled fruitlessly, laughing. Kiba laughed as he collapsed on top of her. Izumi climbed onto the bed and crawled to her parents, smiling brightly as they pulled them into their embrace.

"KIBA!" Naruto's voice echoed down the hallway, causing the Kiba to perk up.

"THEY GOT THROUGH THE FRONT GATE. TAYUYA HELP THE WOMEN PACK EVERYTHING AND GET THE KIDS. KIBA, GO TO THE BASEMENT AND GRAB A GUN, MEET ME ON THE THIRD FLOOR!" Naruto yelled before running off. Kiba looked at his wife with a blank expression before pulling her and Izumi in a tight embrace. He cupped Tayuya's face in his hands, staring into her eyes.

"Do as he says, everything's gonna be fine." he said calmly, pressing his lips to hers before running off. Tayuya quelled the nervousness as she smiled to her daughter.

"Alright sweetie, help mommy pack, we're going somewhere else for vacation!" she said brightly. Izumi giggled as she began to grab her clothes.

* * *

Shikamaru dozed lightly as he shifted his position, bringing himself to lay on his wife's wonderful breasts. He flickered an eye open in annoyance when she flicked him. She glared at him, but smirked, gently running her hand through his hair in slow strokes. The couple was startled as a panting Naruto reeled around the corner, panic evident on his tan, whiskered face.

"THEY'RE THROUGH THE FRONT GATE. SHIKA GET A GUN AND GO TO THE THIRD STORY, TEMARI PACK WHATEVER YOU CAN AND GET THE KIDS." he screamed before speeding off. Shikamaru looked at Temari, kissing her furiously before sprinting off. She lingered for a second before throwing all the clothes she could in their bags before running off to find Shikaru.

* * *

Naruto's hands were shaking as he grabbed an m-14 propped against the wall. grabbing a couple magazines, he ran and broke a window before laying the rifle down.

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death," He cocked the bolt, turning the safety off. "I shall fear no evil," he sighted the first undead, a middle aged man with a baseball sized hole in his hip, lining his crosshair on the man's forehead.

"For I am the EVILEST MOTHERFUCKER," he fired, the bullet going clean through the man's head. Just as he sighted his next kill, a second gunshot rang out, sending the man to the floor.

"That you will EVER see" Neji said with a smirk, pulling the bolt to chamber another round to his SR-25. Naruto gave a relieved nod before returning to the oncoming horde. He began taking rhythmic shots, putting the undead down one at a time. He was startled once more as the burst of an M-16 echoed, plastering a young woman with her jaw hanging.

"Bout time Teme." he grunted, executing two more zeds. Sasuke gave a 'Hn.' before returning to work. The group continued to bide their time, trying to hold off the undead long enough for everyone to move, but the numbers only seemed to be gaining.

The undead passed the approximate 100 meter mark, and everyone began to panic. Albeit, panicking for a special forces team was just as noticeable as a snowflake in a blizzard, they were still scared nonetheless. The three had been ignoring the sounds of tinkering behind them, figuring Shikamaru, Kiba, and Choji were simply arming themselves, but said thoughts were put to shame as Choji kicked out a window and mounted his M-60.

"500 rounds in your extended magazine. 2 more extended mags after this then we're back to normal boxes, LET 'ER RIP!" Kiba barked, holding the ammo belt. Choji gave a deep chuckle as he unloaded round after round into the horde. It seemed unnoticeable at first, but Choji's skill with a machine gun was unparalleled, and 300 rounds into the second magazine, the horde began to thin. Everyone else was busy taking stragglers as their gunner continued to shred the horde of encroaching zombies. Naruto and Sasuke both felt a pit in their stomachs as 4 figures sprinted towards the house at an alarming speed.

"Sasuke, Shika, with me! Everyone else stay up here!" Naruto barked before rushing out of the room. Shikamaru and Sasuke were hot on his heels as they descended.

"Sasuke where are they?!"

"I told them to go into the basement after they packed up!" Naruto continued sprinting down the stairs, pausing as he heard a smash, followed by speedy footsteps. He turned the corner, coming face to face with the spirinters. All of them grinned evilly as they slowly came into the trio's full view. Their grins seemed to only get wider as they observed the trio's eyes flit to the basement door

"On my count." Naruto muttered, barely audible. He gripped his m-14 tightly, saying a silent prayer.

"NOW!" He bellowed, shouldering and firing at record speed. Shikamaru and Sasuke, both armed with M-16s simply fired from their hip, shredding one of the sprinters. Naruto managed to get a lucky headshot on his foe before he and his comrades were knocked aside by the fiends. Naruto let out a yelp of pain as one of them jabbed him in the stomach with it's nails. Shrugging it off he rushed in after them, looking wide-eyed as the wives and children of the group screamed at the sight before them. One snatched Shinji and Akari in it's arms whilst the other swatted Sakura aside and grabbed Mei. They both gave a sharp-toothed grin before sprinting out of the ruined doorframe, the three screaming children in their hand. Everyone let out another cry as they sprinted after them. As they exited the house, Naruto's panic rose higher and higher as he saw the distance between him and his children increase. He let a hint of relief creep over him as Sasuke and Shikamaru took careful aim and plastered the assailant carrying Mei. Naruto continued running, his boots pounding the dirt as Shinji and Akari continued moving away, ignoring the cries of his teamates

Some thing seemed to snap within him, tossing his rifle aside, he let out a roar before pushing himself even harder. His focus only intensified as he actually seemed to be gaining on the attacker. Ignoring the burning sensation is his gut, he pulled out his custom, chrome-skinned ka-bar, then let out another battle-cry before pushing his limits once more, panting as he raced merely a few feet behind them. He saw the panicked looks in his children's eyes as they screamed and reached out for him. Realizing he was at the end of his inhuman endurance, a fleeting thought passed his mind.

"SHINJI! LATERAL DROP!" he screamed. His son looked at him and gave a frantic nod before wiggling within the creature's grasp. Locking an underhook, and a fist to it's chest, he lowered himself to just a few inches below the ground. He took one deep breath, realizing his sister and father were counting on him. He wasn't going to let them down.

He threw every ounce of his strength into his underhook as he slammed a foot into the ground. The creature's insane momentum caused it to topple over, tossing Akari into the air whilst it dropped Shinji with a thud. Naruto caught Akari and let her to the ground as he made a massive leap towards the creature. It had just begun to recover when the force of a freight train collided with it. Naruto raised his ka-bar and plunged it with every bit of his strength into the creature's chest. It thrashed wildly and roared, but Naruto screamed right back, pressing the knife deeper. He panted as he watched the light in it's eyes fade. Not missing a beat, he rushed over and embraced his wailing children.

"Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay, daddy's here. Don't worry guys, i'm here, nothing's going to happen, I promise, I promise." he shakily sobbed, clutching them closely. They both wailed as they gripped him for dear life. Hearing the assorted moans, he slowly looked up to see the ring of undead that were slowly circling around them. He ground his teeth, then suddenly let out a scream of pain as his arm began to...change. Veins twisted and twirled as the muscles expanded and stretched out. Bones moved and elongated, changing the arm ever further. He fell to his knee panting, and stared at his arm. A large, porcelain white blade , streaked with black, jutted out at the elbow, a mixture of bound black and red muscles and veins creeping up about one-fourth the way of the blade. The blade seemed to extend out of his elbow into a large, foot and a half spike.**(**(**My own [slight] version of the blade arm from prototype by the way, if my crappy description can't get the visual across, just think of that!).** Rising to his feet, he stared at the undead that were closing in on him and his children.

"Stay close guys!" he said determinedly. They whimpered as they held on to his pants. He lifted the blade effortlessly, awing at how light it felt. He narrowed his eyes as he held his kids close and made a swipe, which literally cleaved the zombie in two. He spun on his back leg and swiped once more, felling 8 more undead, and also creating his opening. Grabbing his children with his normal arm, he made a run for the house. He looked up to see that Choji and the others had abandoned the third floor. Sprinting around back, he looked to see everyone loading the vehicles, but hard pressed due to the undead pouring in from all sides. He quickly made his way to Hinata with Shinji and Akari, who immediately ran to her. She stared wide-eyed at her husband's mutant arm and opened her mouth to speak but was cut off.

"I'll explain later, make sure their safe!" he called as he ran towards the horde and began slashing away. She quickly put them into Sasuke's truck before tossing several bags in as well. After firing a few more rounds, everyone made their way to the vehicles and revved them up.

"EVERYONE FOLLOW MY TRUCK!" Sasuke bellowed, climbing in the back with, Hinata, Akari, Shinji, Mei, and Yushin. "NARUTO COME ON!" he yelled once more, catching the blonde brawler's attention. He hacked a few more zombies before running towards the truck and getting inside. A sudden fatigue overcame him as his arm lurched and morphed, returning back to normal. He shook his head though, now was no time for rest. He pulled his pistol from it's holster and began pelting the lumbering undead as they made their way towards them. He felt the truck give a lurch, then begin moving. Only Choji and Kiba's cars followed them as they raced away from the Namikaze estate.

"Where do we go Sasuke-kun?!" Sakura called form the driver's seat. Sasuke wracked his brain for places as Naruto began losing consciousness.

"The...Kage mountain...campgrounds..." he mumbled before nodding off. Hinata gasped as he fell into her lap. She checked his pulse, and let a sigh of relief escape her upon realization that he was alive. Sasuke pulled the bed guard up and shut it, bringing up the tailgate afterwards. He checked over some of the bags while Hinata tended to Naruto. Shinji and Yushin grabbed a few blankets before ushering their sisters into the cab. All of them huddled together and covered up, trying to seek safety from what they'd just endured.

"Naruto's right babe, to the campgrounds on kage mountain!" he called softly. She gave a nod as she continued driving. With a sigh, she readjusted her grip for the 6 hour drive back to the mountain...

* * *

"Subject-01, 'Hades' has activated. Project Sage Rebirth can begin." someone spoke to another man who was busily studying something under a microscope. The man grinned as he observed his virus mutate and take over the batch of blood cells he'd provided.

"Very good, continue to monitor the virus's progress. Report any important milestones and/or mutations back to me. Now leave me to my work." He spoke curtly. The figure gave a short bow before walking back to his own study.

"Now for the rest of them..." he muttered, smirking.

* * *

Naruto gave a groan as he awoke. There was a searing pain in his right arm, and he felt like his stomach was doing backflips. He clutched his arm as he sat up. He looked around and found he was in the bed of Sasuke's truck, also in a makeshift bed. The second thing he noticed, were the snoring forms of Ino, TenTen, Temari, Sakura, and Tayuya, all with their respective children, dead asleep. He smirked as he stood to his feet, shaking his head. Ignoring the urge to puke, he slowly got to his feet and walked to the bedguard. He opened it with his good arm, and dropped down to the ground. He looked around and saw that they had made it to the campgrounds, but apparently only with Sasuke's truck. He bent over and began vomiting, clutching his arm as it flared in pain. He clenched his teeth and breathed deeply as he finished. Looking down at where puke would normally be, his eyes widened. Remember, where PUKE would normally be. Not the vicious black and red-flecked mess that was splayed out on the ground before him. Even scarier that the fact that he'd just vomited god knows what, was the fact that said substance almost seemed...alive. He cried out in pain as his stomach contracted and flared in pain, before falling backwards into several pairs of arms.

* * *

Shinji and Akari were rummaging through the packs with their mother for a snack when they herd a small bang. They all looked at one another and shrugged, figuring it was just something in the woods. As they continued to look through the bags, they heard a violent retching.

"That's NOT an animal!" Shinji said worriedly before rushing to the source of the sound. He looked around frantically before seeing his father heave once more, throwing up something gross and black. He ran to his side, Akari and Hinata only a step behind. He opened his mouth to speak, but paused when he saw him rock back on his heels and fall towards him. The three caught him in mid-fall and laid him to the ground. Hinata immediately took off the jacket of Naruto's that she was wearing, folding it and putting it under his head. She looked at her watch while checking his pulse, and breathed a sigh of relief once she counted it normal.

"I'll be right guys, keep an eye on daddy okay?" She asked with a smile. They nodded as she ran off. Akari took her sleeve and wiped some of the sweat that had begun to accumulate on his forehead while Shinji fanned him with his hat. Hinata came back with a bottle of water, some aspirin, along with a incense stick. He groaned as she broke the stick in front of his nose, pulling him to the conscious world. He looked around bleary-eyed at his wife as Shinji and Akari went off to find something, he groaned once more as he tried to sit up, only to barely make it four inches off the ground.

"Naruto stay still!" Hinata scolded. He rolled his eyes as he laid still. "Head up, take these. Now drink" Hinata commanded as she gave him the aspirin and followed with water. He obeyed before laying back down. His mind cleared like lightning and he sat up, ignoring what felt like fire engulfing his insides. He turned quickly and grabbed Hinata's shoulders.

"Where are the kids?! Are they okay?! Please tell me I got them in time!" he yelled, tears streaming down his face. Hinata immediately pulled him close, rocking him back and forth.

"Their fine, their fine baby. They just went off to get something, they'll be- there they are now. Kids, daddy wants to see you two!" she called as the two came running from the truck. He came up from the crook of his wife's neck and looked at them, tears escaping his eyes. He went to his knees and pulled them close, both squeezing him in return. He came up and looked them over quickly before pulling them back close.

"Y-you guys are okay right? I saved you?" he asked through choked cries. Both of them came up and looked at him, smiling.

"Don't worry dad," Shinji started.

"We're indestructible." Akari finished softly. Naruto grinned as tears streamed down his face. They sat like that for a few minutes, Naruto clutching his beloved children like they may fall apart if he let go. Finally gaining control of himself, he let them go and smiled. He frowned as he remembered the two missing vehicles along with all of his missing friends.

"Where did everyone go?" he asked curiously, painfully rising to his feet.

"Went down into the outskirts of Konoha to scavenge us some food, maybe some weapons. We lost so much at the estate..." she trailed off sadly. Naruto cursed silently as he took a step, ignoring the pains in his abdomen and arm. He walked to where his back was turned to everyone.

"Did everyone make it?" he asked with an edge to his voice.

"Yes, but we lost Shikamaru and Neji's cars. We've got Sasuke, Choji, and Kiba's trucks, and a few assorted guns. We've got enough food for maybe a week, and enough gas for maybe 150 miles, probably less though." She sad crestfallen. Naruto turned around and walked to her, bringing her chin up and staring into her beautiful lilac eyes.

"Only a bump in the road. We'll find somewhere safe soon enough, I promise." he said determinedly. She smiled, pressing her face into his chest, pulling him close. He gave her a squeeze before bring her to arm's length.

"I...I know you guys want answers about what happened back at the estate, but I honestly don't have any. I was just so worried about saving you two," he paused, kneeling down and putting a hand on each of their shoulders before continuing, "I don't know what came over me. All i knew is that i had to protect you guys." he said weakly, swallowing the lump in his throat. Akari stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a squeeze. Shinji did the same soon after. Naruto let them both go, smiling as Akari smiled her sweet, angelic smile, whilst Shinji grinned at him.

"Hey c'mon dad, perk up! Yeah it was kinda scary, but it was so COOL! I mean, the way your arm turned into that giant sword, and-and then how you hacked those zombies to pieces, it was awesome!" Shnji yelled animatedly reenacting the whole scene. A vein flared in Akari's temple as she bashed Shinji upside the head, scolding about him needing to be more sensitive to his dad's feelings.

"OI! YOU WANNA GO?!" he barked, taking a step forward.

"BLACK BELT OR NOT I'LL TEAR YOU A NEW ONE!" she screeched before pouncing. As the two engaged one-another, Naruto let out a deep chuckled while Hinata giggled. Naruto looked up to his wife, seeing her smile, but noticed something off in her eyes.

"Hey guys, wanna go get us all some more snacks?" he asked. They both immediately broke their brawl eager nods before darting off in a blur of white and blue. He slowly made his way over to Hinata, holding her small hands in his frying pan sized ones.

"Is there something wrong hime?" he asked softly, his voice similar to distant thunder. She shook her head, trying to turn around, but he held fast. Looking at her beautiful, lavender tinted eyes, he spoke.

"I know when you're lying..." she let out a strangled sigh, letting Naruto notice the tears that had begun to cascade down her face. He immediately placed his arms around her, pulling her close as she sobbed softly. She quickly got herself under control, and she looked up at him as she finished wiping her eyes.

"There's something wrong with you." she said softly. He looked at her, confused, until she slowly lifted his shirt up, revealing a strange, yet disturbing image implanted onto his stomach. His granite hard abdominal muscles still rippled with each movement, but they were marred over by a strange black and red painting. Naruto's eyes widened as he realized what it was.

"This is...Hinata this is an ancient seal! I've read tons of books about the ancient and fabled art of Fūinjutsu and I remember this one! It's the...um, the...Double Tetragram Seal! It was apparently used to seal away massive demons in the ancient times. Well, so the book said." he finished, still staring at his stomach. Hinata frowned as she traced the strange 'seal' as Naruto had called it, noticing that the swirl in the middle, along with the strange characters that extended outward, were made of something organic. She couldn't tell if it was made of veins, muscle fibers, hardened tissue, she couldn't figure out for the life of her medical experience what it was. The thing that intrigued her most was that one of the eight segments that jutted out from a circle around the swirl of it, seemed to pulse with energy. Naruto shrugged as he continued to observe the strange markings. He quickly pulled his shirt down as the twins came back, bickering amongst themselves about whatever they could think of.

"I don't think we should tell anyone about this. If all else fails, just say it's a tatoo, okay?" Naruto quietly asked. Hinata nodded vigorously, thinking it may cause more harm than good if they outright showed everyone. But she still couldn't help but wonder to herself what exactly the Double Tetragram seal was, and what it may do to her husband...

**What's with the seal on Naruto's stomach? Why did he have that crazy mutation back at the estate? Why is he secretly known as 'Hades'? And most importantly, what is Project Sage Rebirth?! You know what to do if you wanna find out! Until then, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and remember, get those reviews in!**

**Take it easy guys-urnextnoob**


	5. NOTE

**Hey guys! I'm really sorry about not putting out a new chapter right away, but there's still good news! I've written out chapter 5, but it's in two different versions. I'm not really sure which one to choose for different reasons (i.e which would be better for the story, which is overall written better, etc.) and I REALLY need a beta or two for these! I've messaged a few betas, but i haven't gotten any responses (hey, they're probably busy with way more popular stories than mine, I completely understand :D). If anyone could get me a beta, or is a beta themselves, notify me! Sorry again for the delay, I hope to get chapter 5 out soon! **

**Hope to see you guys soon-Fett-Spy**


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